December 1, 2013


The Second Coming, San Vitale, Ravenna, 6th cent.

Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming [NRSV, Matthew 24:42].

Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
The First Sunday of Advent



Gentile Bellini, Procession in Piazza San Marco (detail), Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, 1496

In place of evensong this coming Sunday, there will be a festive procession of lessons and carols. Click to access the complete programme.
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Conditor Alme Siderum (Creator of the Stars of Night) is the quintessential advent hymn. During advent it is always sung at Roman Catholic vespers. The Mass setting by Giovanni Animuccia at the 10:00am choral Eucharist is based on it as well as Di Lassus' motet. The postludes at both choral Eucharists this Sunday are organ versions of the hymn by Jehan Titelouze. Malcolm Archer has an English language version in the afternoon service of Advent music.

Jehan TitelouzeConditor alme siderum, performed by Yves-G. Préfontaine  on the 1699 Tribout organ of the Church of St. Martin, Seurre, France with Les Chantres du Roy [BNQ] [BM] (info)
 

Click to read about Conditor alme siderum and to listen to a number of choral and organ arrangements. 

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"O" Antiphons are an important element in Advent liturgy since the ninth century. A number of them will be sung during this year's Procession of Carols and Lessons for Advent.

"O" by Eric Gill


Click to read about "O" Antiphons and listen to them in plainchant sung by the Dominican students of Blackfriars, Oxford, as well as versions by Healey Willan, Arvo Pärt and others.  
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   George Frideric HandelMessiah 


The Annual Handel's Messiah Sing-along will take place at Christ Church Cathedral on Saturday, December 14, 5:00 pm, with the Cathedral Singers and orchestra, Patrick Wedd directing.  Soloists: Sinead White, soprano; Ghislaine Deschambault, mezzo-soprano; Kevin Myers, tenor; and Jean-Sebastien Kennedy, baritone.  Scores will be available. Free admission / voluntary contribution. 

2011 video performance by the Trinity Church (Wall Street) Choir with the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Julian Wachnerconductor.  [listen]
 
Click to read about Messiah with access to a number of free online performances.

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McGill University Noon-Hour Organ Recital Series
The Wolff organ of Redpath Hall - Admission Free


Mark McDonald and Adrian Foster of the Cathedral music programme will perform on November 29 and December 6.  See below.

Fridays from November 1 to December 6 at 12:30 pm


November 29: Mark McDonald application/pdf iconProgramme

December 6: Mark McDonald, Adrian Foster, Jonathan Vromet 
Programme


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Click to go to Bach Cantatas for Online Listening.




 Netherlandish Miniaturist, Entry into Jerusalem
Très Belles Heures de Notre Dame de Jean de Berry
Museo Civico d'Arte Antica, Palazzo Madama, Turin, 1409

Bach Cantatas for the First Sunday of Advent:
Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Schwingt freudig euch empor / Soar in your joyCantata 36, with performances by Gardiner, Harnoncourt, Kuijken, Leusink and Rilling.
 

Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland / Now come, Saviour of the Gentile, Cantata 61, with performances by Gardiner, Harnoncourt,  Leusink, Richter and Thomas.
 

Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland / Now come, saviour of the gentilesCantata 62, with performances by Gardiner, Harnoncourt, Kamp and Leusink.

November 24, 2013


  The Good Shepherd, Museo Pio Cristiano, Vatican, 4th cent.

I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord [NRSV, Jeremiah 23:4].

Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
The Reign of Christ



Kenneth Leighton is the featured composer this coming Sunday at Choral Evensong. Listen to a variety of works by Kenneth Leighton (unidentified performances).

Suite "Veris Gratia" - IV. Epilogue: Sostenuto Ma Con Moto [listen]

Rockingham: Choral Prelude on 'When I survey the wondrous Cross' [listen]

Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis 'Collegium Magdalenae Oxoniense' ● Magnificat [listen]

Veni creator spiritus [listen]

Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis 'Collegium Magdalenae Oxoniense' ● Nunc Dimittis [listen]

Give me the wings of faith [listen]

An Easter Sequence ● Communion (for 2nd Sunday after Easter) [listen]

An Easter Sequence ● Sortie (Antiphon, 1st Vespers of Ascension) [listen]

Crucifixus Pro Nobis, Op.38 ● Christ in the garden [listen]

Six Studies [listen]

Crucifixus Pro Nobis, Op.38 ● Christ in his passion [listen]

An Easter Sequence ● Offertory (for 1st Sunday after Easter) [listen]

Crucifixus Pro Nobis, Op.38 ● Christ in the cradle [listen]

What love is this of thine [listen]

The Second Service, Op.62 ● Nunc Dimittis [listen]

The Second Service, Op.62 ● Magnificat [listen]

An Easter Sequence ● Gradual (for 1st Sunday after Easter) [listen]

Click to go to a number of works by Kenneth Leighton on YouTube.


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Saturday 23rd November 2013

4:30 pm
Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal
Ste-Catherine / University (Métro McGill)

Freewill donation

Duo Rêverie
flûte  harpe  celtique
Music for Advent
 


Hannah Roberts Brockow, Celtic harp 
 Jonathan Bailey, flute

The World hears the Message

Es ist ein Ros Entsprungen

O Come, O Come Emmanuel / Let all Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Veni, Redemptor gencium / Redeemer of the Nations Come

O Sanctissima
Mary hears the Message
 
Sweet was the Song the Virgin Sang
Basque Carol (The Angel Gabriel) 
The Shepherds hear the Angels’ Message

Cold December Winds
Nowell Sing We / Noël Nouvelet
Angelus ad Virginem / Besançon Carol (Berger, secoue) / The Angels and the Shepherds
Salten y Ballen /  Un flambeau, Jeanette, Isabella
What Child is This?
Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day
 

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Click to go to a two-hour programme of the choral and organ music of Benjamin Britten on Pipedreams (PBS).


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McGill University Noon-Hour Organ Recital Series
The Wolff organ of Redpath Hall - Admission Free


Mark McDonald and Adrian Foster of the Cathedral music programme will perform on November 29 and December 6.  See below.

Fridays from November 1 to December 6 at 12:30 pm


November 22: William Porter application/pdf iconProgramme 


November 29: Mark McDonald application/pdf iconProgramme

December 6: Mark McDonald, Adrian Foster, Jonathan Vromet

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Click to go to Bach Cantatas for Online Listening.




Hieronymus Bosch, Last Judgment, Groenige Museum, Bruges
 
Bach Cantata 70 for the 26th Sunday after Trinity:

 

Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! / Watch! Pray! Pray! Watch!, Cantata 70, with performances by Harnoncourt, Koopman, Leusink, Richter, and Rilling.

November 17, 2013

Transfiguration



But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings [Malachi 4:2a].

Church Cathedral Choir Notes
Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost
 

Regina caeli by Gregor Aichinger is the Communion motet for Choral Eucharist and La Eucharistie chantée this coming Sunday.


Gentile da Fabriano, Coronation of the Virgin, Getty Museum, 1420




Click to read about Regina Caeli.  

V. Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia.
    Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia.
    For he whom you were worthy to bear, alleluia.
V. Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia.
   Has risen as he said, alleluia.
R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.
   Pray for us to God, alleluia.

V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.
   Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.
   For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Gregorian Chant:

Performed by the Monks of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, [musicMe]

Performed by Sinéad O'Connor [YouTube]

Performed by Sacris Concentum Cantores [musicMe]

Performed by Chanticleer [musicMe]

Performed by Choir of the Vienna Hofburgkapelle, Josef Schabasser conducting. [CML] (info)

Henricus Isaac (c.1450-1517), performed by The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips conducting. [CML] (info)

Henricus Isaac, performed by the London Cornett and Sacbut Ensemble and the London Pro Cantione Antiqua, Bruno Turner conducting [musicMe]

Francisco Guerrero (1528-99), performed by The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips conducting. [CML] (info)

Hernando Franco (1532-85), performed by the Cappella Cervantina, Horacio Franco conducting [musicMe]

Orlande de Lassus (1532-94), performed by The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips conducting. [CML] (info)

Robert White (c.1538-74), performed by The Tallis Scholars, Peter Philips conducting [CML] (info)

Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611), performed by La Grande Chapelle, Albert Recasens conducting [musicMe]

Francesco Soriano (c.1548-1621), performed by the Maria Choir, Bror Samuelson conducting. [BNQ; BM] (info)

Philippe Rogier(1561-96), performed by the Gabrieli Consort, Paul McCreesh conducting [musicMe]


Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704), performed by Le Concert spirituel, Hervé Niquet conducting [BNQ; BM ] (info)

George Frideric Handel (1685-59): performed by the Scholars Baroque ensemble, conducted by David van Asch [BNQ; BM] (info)

Éric Lebrun (b. 1967), performed by Bayard-musique [musicMe]

Andrew Smith (b. 1970, performed by Trio Mediaeval [musicMe]


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Come hear our fellow parishioner, Gabriel Mairson, perform Benjamin Britten this Saturday, October 16, 4:30pm, at Christ Church Cathedral.  L'Oasis Musicale. Admission free.


Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) Serenade


Flute Sonata (1927) Allegro moderato, Aria           Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942) 

Ondine (1908)                                                             Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) 

Winter Pastorale (1925)                                             Frank Bridge (1879-1941)

4 Pieces H104 (1912) (selections)                             Frank Bridge 


Linda Brady, piano

Shayna Palevsky, flute

Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op 31 (1943)

1. Prologue

2. Pastoral, de/from The Evening Quatrains, Charles Cotton (1630–1687)

3. Nocturne, Blow, bugle, blow by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)

4. Elegy, The Sick Rose by William Blake (1757–1827)

5. Dirge, the anonymous Lyke-Wake Dirge (fifteenth century).

6. Hymn, Hymn to Diana by Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

7. Sonnet, To Sleep by John Keats (1795–1821)

8. Epilogue



Kevin Myers, tenor; Gabriel Mairson, horn

Chamber Music Without Borders String Ensemble,

John Wiens conductor/ directeur 

By way of preparation, listen online to:
Erwin Schuloff, Flute Sonata, performed by Katelyn Kaiser, flute; and Yoonsook Song, piano [YouTube]
Maurice Ravel, Ondine, performed by Lazar Berman [musicMe]
Frank Bridge, Winter Pastorale, performed by Peter Jacobs [YouTube]
Benjamin Britten, Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, performed by Barry Tuckwell, horn; Peter  Pears, tenor; London Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Britten conducting [musicMe]

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The Autumn Concert of Musica Orbium, directed by Patrick Wedd, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Britten:

Gloriana Dances
Five Flower Songs
A Boy was Born


with the assistance of Concerto della Donna, directed by Iwan Edwards
Erik Reinart, organist

Sunday, November 17, 2013 at 7:30 pm.
St. George Anglican Church
1101 Stanley Street
Montreal (Metro Bonaventure)

Click here for more information and the opportunity of purchasing tickets online.

Prepare for the concert by reading about the pieces, checking out the texts and by listening to a number of online performances:


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McGill University Noon-Hour Organ Recital Series
The Wolff organ of Redpath Hall - Admission Free


Fridays from November 1 to December 6 at 12:30 pm


November 15: Jan Jarcyk, Improvisation - Coversations

November 22: William Porter

November 29: Mark Macdonald


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Click to go to Bach Cantatas for Online Listening.


 
The Sack of Jerusalem, Arch of Titus, Rome, 82 CE

Bach Cantata 90 for the Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity:
 
Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Es reifet euch ein schrecklich Ende /A dreadful end carries you away, Cantata 90, with performances by Gardiner, Leonhardt, Leusink, Schröder and Werner.